Why Me?
by royal-chandler
Summary: One of Jack's former roomates ponders on why he chose her. Rated T for safety.


Disclaimer: I do not own Three's Company or any of it's characters.

A/N: This fic was inspired by a marathon on watched on TV land and I came up with a plot bunny I just had to write out. It's a one-shot. Characters may seem a little OOC.

Why Me?

They had been together for over two years now and despite that amazing fact she still questioned their stability. She hated to admit it but she was still a tad surprised they had even lasted this long. When she and Jack had first gotten together, she'd thought it was a joke, a hoax that wouldn't even last longer than a week. Except back then she couldn't escape the foreboding feeling that everything was about to change. She'd been proven wrong. Nothing could have prepared her for the previous two years. She was happier, more free, smiling brighter, simply glad to see the sun shine everyday. Her patients even said her bedside manner had improved greatly and it wasn't that bad to begin with. So why be so upset? Why question things that aren't broken and have no plausible reason to doubt it. These simple everyday facts were good things, right? Good things come in small packages and Jack made the packages welcoming and exciting. There was just one thing she had to ask. Why her? Why had he chosen her to come back too?

_Flashback:_

_Stormy nights weren't very unfamiliar in Hawaii, they were actually very common regardless of the island's reference of being a warm tropical spot. Terri had always dreaded the thunder and random bolts of lightning and now living by herself again even made it worse. She missed having Janet comforting her and telling it would pass in no time, Mr. Furley would come to check on his "kids" when truthfully he was just as frightened as she was. And Jack, Jack would always distract her with his hilarious antics that could place a grin on anyone's face. Jack. She did miss him and his unique ways that only he could put out there. Sure they hadn't gotten the best first impressions of each other but they had overcome that quickly. He was her best friend and always would be._

_She glanced at the TV wishing that she possessed some sort of majestic power that could zap it on, just with a simple look. There was a very slim chance of that. The electricity had been knocked out a little over an hour ago and even if it hadn't the networks would probably be broadcasting the weather and the unfortunate events relevant to it. She plumped herself down on the couch and tried to get into a novel she was reading. Terri failed miserably. Finally fed up with her attempts to pass over the time, she just laid there in her couch feeling sorry for herself. It humbled her for a while putting her into a dreamless sleep._

_A loud knocking rapped against the door startling her, the second jolted her out of her position._

_She paused for a moment then called out, "Who is it?"_

_The person on the other side either didn't hear her or was ignoring her. She didn't like nor appreciate the latter. She gingerly walked over to the door and looked through the peep hole. She saw the silhouette of a man but could vaguely see his face. Taking a risk, she unlocked the deadbolt and turned the knob revealing her visitor._

"_Jack," she gasped surprised. There he was, her former roommate. He was really there, he wasn't a hologram or anything like that. The pending puddle on her floor proving that._

_She quickly enclosed him in her lengthy arms._

"_Terri, I'm soaked." he stated matter-of-factly. And he was, not completely but enough to be noticed._

_Her answer wasn't that profound. "I don't care," she replied._

_Unbeknownst to her, he was grateful she didn't let go. He relished in her warmth for as long as he could._

"_No- not that I'm not enjoying this because I am but you mind inviting me inside." he suggested._

_She went from incredibly joyful to horridly embarrassed. She pulled way from the embrace and scrambled to apologize._

"_Jack, I'm so sorry. I'm a complete idiot. Please forgive me."_

"_Hey! You're not an idiot," he gave her a big smile. "It's alright really."_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Yeah."_

_They gazed at each other for some fleeting seconds then she stepped aside to let him in. Terri faintly closed the door and oblivious to Jack, lightly pinched her arm to make sure she wasn't dreaming._

"_I'll go get you a towel," she offered._

_She left to hallway and searched her linen closet of assorted colors. Blue, she thought. Blue was his favorite color. She grabbed the soft, fluffy material and headed back to the living room. He gently took the towel from her and dried himself off a little. She watched him in a daft trance._

"_I'm so glad you're here," she whispered._

_He turned around to look at her, "What was that?"_

_She looked dumbfound but soon recovered, "Um, what are you doing here?"_

_He lightly chuckled, "You're not very subtle, are you?"_

_She found her way over to him, grabbed his hand and pulled him on the couch with her. Terri fixed her eyes on his face and studied him._

"_Something's wrong." There were no gray areas, it was as plain as day and night._

_Jack cleared his throat and started to tell her._

"_I broke up with Vicky." He said solemnly._

_Terri was shocked to say the least. She had always thought that Vicky and Jack were meant for each other. Now they've split. It was unbelievable. But what she felt most was remorse for her friend._

"_I'm sorry to hear that. Oh, Jack, what happened?"_

"_She proposed," at that Terri raised her brows, "Crazy, right?"_

"_Is that why you broke up because she bruised your pride? Did you want to ask her but she beat you to the punch?" she asked she knew how Jack felt about his honor and the scenarios were just galloping through her head._

"_No, that's what surprised me. Usually that would have been the case but lately I had been feeling like Vicky wasn't the one, I care about her so much but that's it. I fell in love with the idea of falling in love instead of actually doing it. When I rejected her, she asked for an explanation and I felt like I owed it to her."_

"_Poor girl," Terri sympathized._

_Jack nodded, " So we decided to break it off, mutually."_

_It was silent for a few moments until he began again._

"_I didn't know where else to go. Janet has Phil and I would be to ashamed to return to the apartments and explain the situation to Mr. Furley and Larry. I had some money saved and bought a ticket here."_

_His eyes asked the unspoken question and Terri blushed but was more than happy to oblige._

"_You can stay with me, Jack."_

_End of Flashback_

What happened from then on is history. Things had gotten back to where they were, actually quite better. The pair were now closer than ever. In more ways then one. Proof being now here she was laying beside him in _their_ bed. He looked so cute when he was asleep, not that he wasn't when he was conscious. This was different, though. He looked innocent and at peace, like nothing else existed. Just them. In their house. In their world. She gently pushed the comforter off of her body and put on the nightgown she had taken off the night not too many hours before. Her cheeks reddened at the memory. It was still a little foreign for her to think of Jack that way. Being intimate with him was one of the most spiriting things she'd ever experienced. Sighing, she retrieved her robe from a chair nearby and slipped into it. She tied the belt around her slender waist and exited the room. She softly tip toed down the stairs into the kitchen. She got herself a bag of Oreo's and a glass of milk. Satisfied with that she went returned back to her favorite place in the whole house. The couch. It was getting a little springy but still comfortable. Terri got into a relaxed position. She took out a chocolate cookie, dipped it into the white liquid and ate it. She continued the routine for about three minutes, when a figure joined her.

"Can't sleep?" Jack inquired.

"Nah, just hungry." she half-lied.

"Me too. I worked up quite the appetite." he joked sitting beside her and getting a cookie for himself. He went for another when she snatched the bag away.

"Jack, I am positively shocked at your bluntness." she joked along with him but they both knew she wasn't funny when she forced it. She was just fun.

"Come on, Terri," he pouted, "I want a cookie."

She smirked, "Nope."

Jack grinned back, two could play at this game. He spotted a few crumbles that had strayed to the corner of her mouth. The black pieces in beautiful contrast with her pink lips. He leaned down and kissed them away.

He glimpsed back up at her, "How about now?"

Her expression was indifferent.

"You'll have to try harder, Sonny." she coaxed in that no nonsense tone that Jack found irresistibly sexy.

Okay, Jack thought. He then got closer to her pressing his soft lips to her pulse. Her sensitive spot. He felt her shiver and smiled against her skin. Just the reaction he was hoping for. He did even worse by sucking on it.

"Jack," she giggled, "you're not playing fair."

"Do I ever?" he replied huskily, breathing hot air onto her wet skin.

"Mmm," she moaned.

"You're losing."

"I know." she said under her breath.

"Cookie?"

"Alright but one more kiss." He gratified her with a kiss on her neck that lingered a longer than needed. He went back to his original position and took the Oreo she held out for him.

"I reward your effort." He stated then ate the snack, "Mmm, fwank foo."

She just laughed at him. They stayed that way eating the cookies until they was nothing in the bag. Sometime during their feasting she ending up laying in his lap. They were both content with the tranquility or so it seemed. Inside Terri was feeling that sense of insecurity again. It wasn't going to rest until she dealt with it.

"Jack?" she wasn't sure if he was still awake or not.

"Yeah, sweetheart?" he responded sweetly.

She smiled at him and this time was the first to initiate affection between them, pulling away she gazed into his eyes. She loved his eyes and everything they reflected.

"What was that for?"

"For being here," she declared nervously.

He frowned concerned, "You alright?"

She looked down at her hands wanting to advert her view. Predictably he raised her chin to meet with him. Tears streamed down her face. She raised her hand touching them, she hadn't even realized she was crying. Jack used his thumbs gently brushing them away and brought her hand into his.

"Terri, you gotta talk to me here."

She shook her head softly, "Don't leave me."

Jack was astounded at the implication. He had perceived that something was wrong with her for the past few days but he had no idea it was this bad. He believed that she would tell him when she was ready. He hadn't been looking forward to it but it looked as if now was the time.

"Baby," he brought her into his arms, "why would you ever think I would?"

"Why me?" she asked. She sounded so fragile. He never wanted to let her go.

"What?" he asked confused. He didn't want to sound stupid but she was the driver of the conversation and the way she was steering he couldn't comprehend.

"When you broke up with Vicky, why did you chose me to go to. Why not Janet, or Cindy or Chrissy even. You said I was the only person you think of but that can't be true."

"I can't answer that." He whispered.

"I guess I have my answer then." she said angrily trying to remove herself from his hold but he just held on tighter.

"I can't answer that because I'm mortified to even say it. What you'll think scares me."

She stared right at him, "Just put me at peace and tell me, Jack."

Jack looked at her and laughed lightly. Her mouth gaped at his response. She was speechless and attempted to make words. He put his index finger to her lips to silence her.

"I'm laughing because I was an idiot to think I could get away with it."

She gasped. He hastily went on to reassure her.

"No, no," he took a deep breath, "Ok the way I'm going you'll look astonished at anything I say so I'm just going to clarify this before I go on," He looked into her bewildered eyes and didn't lose focus from her blue orbs. "I love you, Terri Alden. I love you and I always want you to remember that. Ok?"

She nodded.

"But I never fell in love with you after I got here," he started and she of course protested, "You promised to remember." he smiled attempting to lighten the mood.

"I fell in love with you before. Terri, when I met you, you had wounded my pride. You saw my chauvinist ego and you didn't take any of it. You put me right in my place. A woman had never done that to me before not even my mother." She laughed at that and he smiled wider. I'm getting through to her, he thought.

"I wanted to get back at you for that, because when you did that you scared me. So I went along with Larry's idea of the 'Bag of a Million Laughs.' That night…that night I truly noticed you and saw the intelligent woman Janet had wanted me to see."

"You ruined my blue dress."

"But I bought it back and I apologize once again, nothing's like the original." she grinned back, "You were so gorgeous even with the ink under your eyes, it just brought them out more. Then we became friends and I liked that."

"I liked it too." she confirmed.

"Then my feelings for you started to change. I recall the exact moment. It was when you had gone on that date with Larry. It was so awful for me. First I thought, I was just being like a protective brother but I in my heart I knew that wasn't it. I was jealous of Larry. Of Larry! I realized I had fallen in love with you and I didn't know what to do." he stated

"Jack, that was so long ago!" she said surprised he never told her.

"I didn't want to ruin our friendship by telling you."

"You could have told me!" If he had where would they be now?

"I wanted to, I really did. But after talking to Janet I couldn't."

"Janet knew!" She gave her third exclamation, "Did she tell you not to do it."

"She in fact encouraged me to tell you and decide what I really wanted to do. And what I really wanted was to have you in my life always and back then I thought that meant keeping it away from you. So I did as long as I could until Vicky came along. When she did I was relieved, honestly. She was a distraction I needed and was hoping I could fall in love with. In the end I was just fooling myself. When she asked me to marry her, I knew I could possibly lead her along anymore."

"Does she know?" Terri asked gently.

"Yeah." he told her feeling a twinge of guilt as he put a bound of stray hair behind her ear.

He continued, "That's why I came to you. I couldn't keep it from you any longer. You had to know. I chose you because I love you. I didn't tell you this story because of what you'd think of me and what I did to Vicky."

By now at the end of the story, Terri's eyes were welling up.

"I didn't tell you to make you cry." he said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, Jack, I know that. It's just so weird to hear you get so sentimental." he furrowed his eyebrows, she quickly corrected herself, "Weird in a good way."

He smiled and once again wiped away her tears, "So you're okay?"

She hugged him like her life depended on it, "I am now."

"Good," he chuckled, "I was getting worried." He pulled away and gazed at her sternly.

"Next time you're feeling like this, please come to me, Terri."

She nodded hurriedly, "I will."

He used his fingers to gently stroke her face, "Now don't say that and don't do it. I mean it, never hesitate."

She looked back into his eyes shining with love and protection. How could she have ever doubted that.

"I love you," she said instinctively.

"Me too." a grin plastered on his face. "So let me take you upstairs so I can show you."

"Jack!" she gasped at his suggestion.

He laughed at her feedback, "You do that too much but I adore it."

That night and morning he showed her exactly how much he loved her and always would.


End file.
